Rolling awning



N. H. NELSON ROLLING AWNING May 12, 1931 Filed March 10. 1930 3Sheets-Sheet. l

May 12, 1931. :N. H. NELSON 1,804,793

ROLLING AWNING Filed March 10. 1930 s Sheets-Sheet. 2

s 2*?29 fla gwuento'c May 12, 1931. N. H. NELSON ROLLING AWNING FiledMarbh 10, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet. 3

gwiwntov ZZZ/r022 Patented May 12, 1931 r ()FFICE 30mm AWNINGApplication filed ll-Iarch 1c, 1930. Serial No. 434,661.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a roll awninghaving a telescoping frame that is prevented fromthe telescoping actionexcept when in an upwardly eX- tending near horizontal position.

A further object of my invention is to pro-. vide a rolling awninghavinga blnder strip that does not become accidentally detached from thehinged frame portion when the awning is being lowered or raised.

A still further object is to'provide a housing for the awning when notin use that is strong and does not develop any torque influenced by therolling awning operation.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a rolling awningthat is easy running and requires a minimum amount of physical effort tooperate it.

i A still further object of my invention is to provide a rolling awningthat may easily and quickly be detached from its roller and binderstrip, thereby making it possible to repair or substitute new awningcloth.

'A still further object of this invention is to provide a frame forarolling awning that is not afiectedby thepainting of thesame.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a binder stripthat will not bend in use, and one that successfully closes the openingin the housing when the awning is stored therein.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a rolling awningthat is economical in manufacture, refined in appearance and durable inuse. i

These and other objects'iwill be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combinationof the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated areattained as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claimsand illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: 7 I l Fig. 1, isa perspective view of my rolling awning mounted on a window case and inuse.

Fig. 2 is a side View of therolling awning secured to a window case andin an extended position. 4

Fig. 3, isa top plan View of one end of the U-shaped bar. r g

Fig. 4c,'is a top plan view of one of the pipe arms and'into which oneend of the U-shaped bar is slidably mounted.

' Fig.5, is a side sectional View ofimy awning in an extended positionand more fully illustrates its interior construction.

Fig. 6, is a front sectional view of the hinged portion of one of thepipe arms when extending upwardly in a near vertical position.

Fig. 7 is a bottom sectional view of the hinged portion of one of thepipe arms when in a horizontal position.

Fig. 8, is a side View of one of the catch means for preventing theU-shaped bar from sliding in the pipe arms when not near averticalposition and is turned one-quarter revolution from its normal positionon a window frame.

Fig. 9, is a side sectional view of one of the hinge brackets with aroof to ward off paint from the working parts of the hinge portion.

Fig. 10, is a front sectional view of a'portion of the binder strip onthe U-shaped bar and means for preventing its accidentaldetachmenttherefrom. I

Fig. 11, is a side sectional view of the binder strip secured to theawning cloth and at-v tached to the U-shaped bar.

Fig. 12, is a front sectional viewfof the awning housing and more fullyillustrates its construction.

' Fig. '13, is an inside View of one of the 1 housing ends. s V

Fig. 14L, is a perspective view of one of the awning housing supportingand end enclos- 111g caps.

Fig. 15, is a side view of one of the U-shaped keys'for. retaining theawning housing in the supporting caps. j

One of thechief objections to telescoping awning frames for rollawningsis that the telescoping action actuates at undesirable times andsometimes actually becomes accidentally disassembled. I have overcomeall these objections as will be appreciated by. those familiar with theart.

In the drawings I have used the numeral Tao" I their bottoms inserted inthe housing and toto designate the wall of a building having a windowand window frame 11 to which the invention is designed to be attached.The numeral 12 designates the awning housing formed from sheet metal orlike material and approximately rectangular in cross section.

The bottom and front walls are formed from the opposite side marginalportions of the sheet and do not quite abut at their edges, but areslightly apart to form a slot or mouth 13, which extends longitudinallyof the hous ing at the lower forward corner thereof. The numeral 14designates the two housing ends for closing the two open ends of theawning housing, respectively. These two housing endsare in the form ofsquare cups and have ward each other. The forward side wall portions arethen bent outwardly and back upon themselves, with the end portions ofthe housing in between as shown in Fig. 12. The lower side wall of eachof the end members is cut away at 15 to correspond with the mouth 13.When the side walls of the end members which are on both sides ofthe'housing, are spot welded, bolted, riveted, or the like to thehousing at points designated by the numeral 16, an awning housing isformed that has great strength and cannot be distorted or torqued out ofnormal condition by the operation of the awning. This feature'isespecially advantageous when coil spring rolled awnings are used. Bypiercing the bottom of each of the end members near their centers andforcing the marginaledge laterally a bearing member 17 is created.

Rotatably mounted in these two bearing members and extending beyond thesame is the awning roller comprising a wooden core 18. and a metal shell19. A flexible awning member 20 such as canvas or like material isattached at one end to this roller by tacks 21. These tacks afterpassing through the metal shell, clinch in the wooden core 18.. Theflexible awning is designed to extend through the slot 13 at times, andits housing 12 is adapted to be secured to the top of the window frame11, as shown in Fig. 1. This attaching of the housing is accomplished bythe two awning housing supporting and end enclosing caps 22 of yoke formhaving their back walls secured to the window frame by screws as shownin the drawings. i

. These caps are of a design to fit snugly, the outside of the housing12 and engage the housing near its respective ends. As they have nofront walls, the awning housing may easily and readily be removedtherefrom by moving outwardly from the window frame. To prevent theaccidental removal of the housing from these caps, I have provided eyes23 on-the upper and bottom wall of each of the caps and extending beyondthe lions ing when the same is in the caps 22 and a key 24 formed of apiece of wire or light rod having its end portions bent at right anglesand adapted to be inserted in the upper and lower eyes and extend acrossthe front of the housing as shown in Fig. 1. These caps also enclose theopen ends of the members 1 1.

To prevent these keys from becoming accidentaily detached the marginaledge of the front side of the housing at the slot portion may be bentoutwardly and back upon itself as shown in Fig. 1, to provide a lug 25.This lug or strip will prevent the keys from moving inwardly unless thisside of the housing is depressed to allow the keys to slide over thisbent portion or lug.

In order to facilitate the assembling of the awning housing inmanufacture the portions of the cup members 1 1 that are bent back uponthemselves extend, as shown in Fig. 12, beyond the bottom of the cups.By this arrangement these cup members are easily centered on the ends ofthe housing 12 and are guided thereby onto the end portions of thehousing 12. If these bent portions of the cup members were flush withthe bottoms of the cup members it would indeed be a very diilicult taskto guide them onto the end portions of the housing.

'A binder strip is provided for the outer margin of the awning cloth 20,which strip is composed of a sheet of metal extendin the full width ofthe cloth. This strip is quickly detached from the cloth by a hookportion 26 forming a groove opening outwardly and downwardly as is shownin Fig. 11. By this construction the usual seam 27 formed on themarginal edge of the awning by sewing engages back of the final hook onthe hook portion 26 and when weight or stress is placed on the awning todraw it to a taut condition it will be rigidly held. However, when theawning is in a loosened condition it may be easily slid from right toleft or vice versa, in or out of the hook portion. This construc tion isvery desirable when installing the awnings or when it is desired torepair or substitute a new cloth awning. In order that the hook portion26 will not damage or interfere with the sliding movement of the awningtherein the extreme ends of the final hook of the hook portion arerounded as shown in Fig. 10, and which-is designated by the numeral 28.I have also rounded the upper corners of the binder strip designated bythe numeral 29 in order that the binder stri will be guided into andenter the slot 13 when the awning is completely rolled on the shaft 19.

Designed to be secured by suitable means to each of the side portions ofthe frame 11 at a lowered elevation is a bracket 30. Each of thesebrackets have two spaced apart ears through which is'a small shaft 31.Rota-tably and slidably mounted at one end to each of these shafts is ahollow arm or pipe 32. By

these pipes being slidably mounted as well as 1 rotatably mounted,slight dimensional errors in the installing of the brackets areautomatically compensated for.

The numeral 33 designates a U-shaped bar having its two end portionshingedly secured to its center or base portion as shown in Fig. 16.These end portions of the bar 33 are permitted to fold inwardly as shownin Fig. 16 for the conserving of space when being shipped or placed onthe store shelf. They may be swung outwardly to a transverse position tothe main portion as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 16. But because of theshoulders of the hinged portions they cannot be swung more than a rightangle from the base portion of the same. The two ends of this U-shapedbar 33 extend into and are slidably mounted in the two pipe arms 32. Thebinderstrip is hingedly and detachably secured to the central portion ofthis U-shaped bar by a hook or trough portion 34 formedon-its outer endand rear side as shown in Fig. 11. This hook portion 34 extendsoutwardly and downwardly from the hook portion 26, and is preferablyrectangular in cross section and possesses enough resiliency to extendaround the central portion of the U-spaced bar whenever the bar issprung into the same. By bending the-free end of the trough inwardly andback upon itself a projection will be formed 'to more successfullyretain this bar in the same and also the construction of the trough willbe strengthened. The numeral 35 designates achain, cable or the likehaving one end entering the housing 12 through a hole in its bottom andnear one end. To accomplish this an opening 36 must also be provided inthe supporting cap member 22 as shown in Fig. '14. This chain is securedto a spool 37 secured against relative rotation on one end of the shaft19 and located between one of the cup members 14 and the supporting cap22 adjacent thereto as shown in Fig. 16. This chain isdesigned to extendthrough the window frame and have'any one of its links capable ofentering and engaging the usual chain catchmember 38, secured to theinside of the window frame.

By this arrangement if the chain is not engaging the catch member, theweight of the binder strip. pipe arms and U-shaped bar Wlll unroll theawning cloth from the awning roller, out of the slot 13 and to aposition in front of the window. The extent of lowering of the awningcloth will depend upon what link of the chain 35 is again permitted toengage the catch member 38. By such a construction any desired positionof the awning may be'had. As the chain is secured to the spool, the samewill be wound around this spool as the awning is lowered. By pulling onthe chain 35. the awning roller will be rotated and the cloth awningrolled upon the roller and the chain unwound from the roller or spool.During this last operation the pipe arms will be moved to an upwardposition and the U-shaped bar slid outwardly from these pipes toaposition shown in Fig. 5. This telescoping action of the arms and barpermits the brackets 30 to be well down'on the window frame, thereby theawning cloth will not only cover approximately the entire opening of thewindow. but its lower portion will be held close to the wall 10,allowing little, if any sunshineor rain to enter between the wall 10 andthe awning cloth. When the chain is re-. leased from the catch member 38for lowering the awning the first action of the invention will be forthe U-shaped bar to move directly downwardly into the pipe arms, pullingwith it the lower end of the awning. This action is very rapid and themomentum of the binder strip would tend to unhook the binder stripfromthe U-shaped member. To prevent this I haveprovided aplurality oftransverse slots 39 in the bottom of the trough or hook portion 34 andextendingthrough-each of these slots is a pin 40 secured'to the U-shapedmemher as shown in the drawings. These pins 40 extend at approximatelyforty-five degrees to the horizontal when the bar member is in avertical position and prevent the accidental detachment of thebinderstrip from the U- shaped member. 1

When it is desired to strip fromthe U-shaped member it is merelynecessary to manually rotate the bar member relative to the binder stripso that the pins may be moved out of the slots. The numeral 41designates a longitudinal flange secured on the under side of the binderstrip as'shown in Fig. 11. When the awning is completely rolled insidethe housing 12 this flange 41 and the hook portion 34 completely inclosethe slot 13in the housing 12, thereby sealing the cloth awning againstthe elements. This flange 41 also strengthens the binder strip which isvery'desira'ble when a cord. cable or the like 42 is secured to theouter side of the hookportion 34 and is used to rigidly tie and hold theawning in a lowered position against wind and the like as shown inFig. 1. If the strengthening flange 41 were not used the manual pullingandtightening of the cord 42 would bend the bar member and binder. stripwhich is certainly not desirable and also if the binder strip weredistorted or bent the same would not enter and close the longitudinalslot 13. By the cord 42 being secured to the outer side of the binderstrip and also due to the construction of the binder strip the hookportion 26 will be tightened on the end of the cloth awning, therebypreventing any movement of the cloth awning relative to the binderstrip. As telescoping of" the bar member and pipe arms is only desiredwhen the awning isin the housing 12 I have provided a'means forpreventing this telescoping action as soon as the pipe arms start toswing remove the binder lil outwardly. This is vaccomplished by a U-shaped member 43 slidably mounted on each of the shafts 3.1 andembracing the hinged portion of the pipe arm rotatably secured on thesmall shaft 31. Each of theseU-shaped members 43 are prevented fromrotation by having projections 44 engaging the bracket member base asshown in Fig. 7.

These projections also hold the U-shaped members a slight distance fromthe-bracket member base in order that paint or the like will not stickthe twomembers together. To further prevent paint or the likeinterfering with, the successful sliding movement of these U-shapedmembersbetween the two ears of the bracket members I have provided aroof 45' as shown in Fig. 9. Extending inwardly on one side of each ofthese U-shaped members is a circular flange 46 capable of entering aslot 47 in the pipe'arm adjacent to it when the saidpipe arm is swungoutwardly from; a near horizontal position. The numeral 48 designates aslot in each of'the end portions of the U-shaped bar member capable ofregistering with the slots in the pipe arms when the bar member is fullytelescoped inside the arms. In other words when the pipe arms are in anear vertical position as shown in Fig, 5, the U-shaped bar member mayfreely telescope therein, but when the awning is'loweredand the U-shapedbar member is fully telescoped inside the pipe arms, the pipe arms willcommence their swinging movement outwardly from the building and theflanges 46 will immediately enter the slots in the pipe arms and willalso engage the slots in the U-shaped bar member, thereby preventing theU-shaped bar member from sliding out of the pipe arms until the pipearms are again in a near vertical position. By such a construction thereis no possibility of the U-shaped bar member sliding completely out ofthe pipe arms and detaching itself from the same.

To make the awning roller rotate more easily and also toprovide a moresuccessful bearing I have provided small disks49 rotatably mounted oneach of the cup members 14, having their peripheries over-lapping themarginal edge of the bearing member 17, as shown in Fig. 1.8.

Some changes may bemade in the construction and arrangement of myimproved rolling awning without departing from the real spirit andpurpose of myiinvention, and it is my intention to cover by my claimsany modified forms of structure-or use of mechanical equivalents whichmay be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a flexible awning element, aframe, a binder strip secured to said frame, a'means for securing oneend of said-flexible awning element to said binder strip, and alongitudinally extending ing element having one end secured to saidshaft and capable of being wound on or unwound from said shaft, anawning frame designed to be hingedly secured to a support? ing member, abinder strip having one end secured to the free end of said awning andits other end secured to said frame, and a longi-.

tudinal flange on said binder strip; said binder strip and flange beingof such character that when said awning is wound upon said shaft and insaid housing said binder strip and flange will engage the two marginaledges of the longitudinal slot in said housing, thereby completelyclosing said housing.

3. In a device of the class described, a housing having a longitudinalslot, a shaft rot-atably mounted in said housing, a flexible awningelement having one end secured to said shaft and capable of being woundon or unwound from said shaft, an awning frame designed to be hingedlysecured to a supporting member, a binder strip having its lower marginaledge secured to saidframe and its other marginal edge portion bent firstoutwardly and downwardly, then inwardly and upwardly to form a hookmember for engaging a seam formed on the free end of said awning, saidformed hook portion and the seam of said awning being of such characterthat said awning may be freely slid inwardly or outwardly in contactwith said hook portion when said awning is in a loosened condi! tion,and a longitudinal flange on said binder strip; said binder strip andflange being of such character that when said awning is wound upon saidshaft and in said housing said binder strip and flange will engage thetwo marginal edges of the longitudinal slot in said housing, therebycompletely closing said housing; and blunted corners formed on said hookportion to facilitate the removal or replacement of the flexible awningtherein, and the said upper ends of said binder strip being rounded forguiding the upper ends of said binder strip into said slot when saidflexible awning is rolled onto said shaft.

4. In a device of the class described, a mounted flexible element, aswinging frame, a binder strip secured to said flexibleelement, a hookportion formed on said binder strip for engaging and supporting saidframe, a transverse elongated slot formed in the bottom of said hookportion, and a projection on the portion of the frame inside said hookportion and extending through said slot.

5. In a device of the class described, a hinged frame, a rotatablymounted shaft, :1 flexible awning element having one end secured to saidshaft, a binder strip secured to the free end of said flexible awning, ahook inc portion formed on said binder strip and engaging said frame, aplurality of transversely extending elongated slots in said hookportion, and a plurality of projections on the portion of the frame insaid hook portion extending into and through said slots, respectively;said projections extending at approximately a forty-five degree anglefrom the horizontal when said awning element is rolled on said shaft andsaid frame is in approximately a vertical position.

6. In a device of the class described, a rotatably mounted shaft,anawning having one end secured to said shaft, two bracket members, ashaft secured to each of said bracket members, a pipe arm rotatablymounted on each of said shafts in said brackets, a U- shaped bar memberhaving its two ends extending into and slidably mounted in said pipearms, a meansfor securing the free end of said awning to said barmember, a slot formed in each of said pipe arms, a slot formed in eachof the portions of said bar that is slidably mounted in said pipe armsand capable of registering with the slots in said pipe arms, and anon-rotatable circular flange adjacent each of said slots in said pipearms and capable of entering and engaging said slots and the slots insaid U-shaped bar member at times.

7 In a device of the class described, a ro-,

tatably mounted shaft, an awning having one end secured to said shaft,two bracket members, a shaft secured to each of said bracket members, apipe arm rotatably mounted on each of said shafts in said brackets, a Ushaped bar member having its two ends extending into and slidablymounted in said pipe arms, a means for securing the free end of saidawning to said bar member, a slot formed in each of said pipe arms, aslot formed in each of the portions of said bar that is slidably mountedin said pipe arms and capable of registering with the slots in said pipearms, a non-rotatable U-shaped member embracing the hinged portion ofeach of said pipe arms, and a flange on each of said U-shaped memberscapable of entering the slots in said pipe armsand the slots in theU-shaped bar member registering therewith when said pipe arms are movedclownwardly from approximately a vertical position. I

' 8. In a device of the class described, a rotatably mounted shaft, anawning having one end secured to said shaft, two bracket mem bers, ashaft secured to each of said bracket members, a pipe arm rotatablymounted on each of said shafts in said brackets, a U shaped bar memberhaving its two ends extending into and slidably mounted in said isslidably mounted in said pipe arms and capable of registering with theslots in said pipe arms, a U-shaped member embracing the hinged portionof each of said pipe arms, projections formed on each of said U-shapedmembers capable of engaging the bracket member adjacent to it forpreventing the rotation of the same, a roof member secured to eachofsaid bracket members for preventing paint or the like from attachingsaid U-shaped members to said bracket inembers, and a circular flange onsaid U-shaped members capable of entering the said slots when said pipearms are moved to said positions.

9. In a device of the class described, a housing having a longitudinalslot, a shaft rotatably mounted in said housing, a flexible elementsecured to said shaft, two supporting caps designed to be secured to abuilding for supportingthe two ends of said housing, respectively, a keymember on each of said supporting caps for preventing the accidentaldetachment of said housing from the same, and a lug on said housing forpreventing the accidental detachment of each of said key members.

NELS H. NELSON.

